Lifting heavy + cardio eat before or after?

Meal timing has no impact on weight loss. Eat when it works best for you.

Depending on what you're ingesting, it can have an effect. It can also impact your energy during your workout. I prefer to go in on a relatively empty stomach, and have a healthy meal/shake after my workout to refuel my body and speed recovery. I think you have to test things for yourself to see what works best.

In regards to fasted cardio... the sciencey explanation. (but in a nutshell, makes no difference)
http://alanaragon.com/myths-under-the-microscope-the-fat-burning-zone-fasted-cardio.html

But your performance might be a different story. You will have to see how each feels to your body to give yourself an answer. For the general person, either way would be fine. For the athlete or someone competing, then someone training with proper nutrition to enhance performance (i.e... having protein spread throughout the day and carbs focused more around training time) would be the way to go. This is called nutrient timing and only accounts for around 10% of anything meaningful if you are a competitive athlete...but might make the difference between coming in first place or coming in second place for example. Again, for the general populace, just do whichever you feel better in the gym doing.

The benefits of fasted cardio are small (look at the articles). Imo meal timing is important because you want to ensure you are fueled up and dont run out of energy during your workout. A better workout will mean more calories burned and weights lifted which will support weight loss.

If its an hour and you have eaten in the last 2 hours, then you probably dont need anything. See how your workout feels. In contrast if you do run out of energy or havent eaten recently then do try eating some complex carbs before. It sucks to run out of energy. Loads of suggestions on the internet of easy snacks. I always have at least a banana. The other thing you need to do is make sure you hydrate.

sarahf_24 wrote: »

Do what works for you. I personally can't eat anything before I workout as I feel sick during my workout...I feel like there is a brick in my stomach. You however it may not bother and find eating before gives you more energy. Do whatever works best for you!

Same here. I have to wait at least 2hrs after eating something otherwise I get sick.

I love the "do what works for you" motto. I workout in the evening after work during the week. I will sometimes have a small snack before hitting the gym, and protein rich dinner within an hour of lifting weights. Just hit your calorie goal and keep up the excellent workout schedule that you have going. Looks beautiful.

I've switched most of my workouts to the morning due to the gym being so busy during my regular hours. I always need a little something to fuel my workouts. Today it was half a banana and a smidge of nutella. What I eat after depends on my workout and how I feel.
Just do what works best for you!

For short periods of time, it is probably better to eat after and at least 2 hours before, just so you don't have stuff floating around to make you feel sick. But for longer workouts, you need extra glucose in your bloodstream or you won't have enough energy to finish your workout. In which case, you should eat or drink carbs during the workout. You should also eat protein within the first 30 minutes after a workout, to aid with recovery.